


Ribasu Sutori

by ChaosFox



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Riku might be a little nicer but he is still a cocky boy in KH1, Riku was the one who got the Keyblade first, Soriku - Freeform, Soriku later in the story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-04-14 03:20:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14126976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaosFox/pseuds/ChaosFox
Summary: Upon remembering bits and pieces of the conversations he had with Terra and Aqua as a child, Riku kept their words close to heart and promised to gain strength to protect those who matter to him. Though still heavily interested in leaving the island he sees as a prison, he is much more concerned over Kairi and Sora's feelings and safety, even if he was still an arrogant and cocky teen.Now with his islands are gone (though he doesn't really care about that), friends missing, and the Keyblade he had been promised as child in hand: Riku sets off exploring each world looking for his missing friends and being dragged into other people's problems along the way in this story of where Keyblade stayed true to its original choice.





	1. Prologue: Different Awakening

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! ChaosFox here bringing you a multi chaptered fanfic I am working on! Woo boy its probably going to be a long one since this fanfic is all about exploring the idea of what if the Keyblade stuck true to its original choice of Riku. What would happen then? I wanted to post it today in celebration of the 16th anniversary of Kingdom Hearts! I hope you all enjoy!

Darkness was all he could see as a silver haired boy drifted down it. It cradled him as softly as a newborn baby as he dipped down into it, getting closer and closer to the small light shining in the dark depths. Soon the boy was enveloped in the lights warmth, it wrapping around him like a soft blanket as he was finally set down upon its glassy surface.

Teal eyes blinked upon and their own had to flinch a bit at the harsh light, using his pale arm to shield him from the light. Once he finally adjusted to the light, he lowered his arm and stared in awe at the woman in the glass painting. Her hair was like raven feathers and her skin as white as freshly fallen snow. He moved his gaze upwards and looked around him.

What was this place? He could have sworn he was on the beach just a second ago looking for the materials and supplies they needed for the raft. He crossed his arms and just squinted down at the painting as if the woman depicted in it had all the answers he sought. He huffed as he looked up again and observed his surroundings more closely. Nothing but darkness stretched as far as the eye could see, the only source of light or anything that could be seen was the large glass painting he was standing on.

_So much to do, so little time._

The boy was immediately on the defensive upon hearing that voice. He instinctively rose his arm in his sword fighting stance but stopped upon realizing he didn’t have his wooden sword with him. He muttered some unkind words under his breath before lowering and getting his fists ready in front of him. He was more used to sword fighting but he was confident he could handle himself in hand to hand combat as well.

_Take your time. Don’t be afraid._

Oh right disembodied voice, he’ll get right onto that not be afraid stuff. Not that he was afraid.

_The door is still shut. Now, step forward._

The silver haired boy jumped a bit surprise when three small pillars suddenly rose from the glass. He just watched in shock as three items showed up in a flash of light on each pillar. One was a black and red shield that had a protective aura around it.

_Power sleeps within you._

Another was a staff with a blue mouse shaped head at the top. It seemed to ooze with knowledge and wisdom.

_If you give it form…_

And finally, a sword with a mouse shaped head at the hilt. It radiated power but also destruction.

_It will give you strength. Choose well._

The teen looked around for the voice once it had stopped talking. He sighed in frustration and defeat before looking at the three objects. A sword, shield and a staff. He wondered what each one truly meant and if this decision was truly so grand and important as the voice made it out to be. He shook his head, might as well get it over with.

Moved forward and gazed at each item with scrutiny. He closed his teal eyes and began to think over each one and what they might mean. A sword was something he was familiar with for sure. He has been practicing fighting with a wooden one ever since he could walk along with his best friend. He knew it must represent strength and power, a force used to fight and destroy. The staff was probably something Riku did not care for at all. He knew it represented magic from all the fairytales he has read when he was a small kid and must be a sign of wisdom like how all the old wizards were wise. The shield was the one that represented defending and protection. If you were the shield, you were the one that protected others.

The silver haired boy opened his teal eyes a stared at the shield, recalling a conversation that he couldn’t remember completely a long time ago. A promise he made to himself when he saw his smiling friend’s face right after it. To protect what matters.

The shield was the item that gave you the power to protect what matters.

The boy walked over to the shield and pulled it off the pillar from where it floated. He gazed at the item in his hands with curiosity and interest when the voice spoke yet again.

_The power of the guardian._

_Kindness to aid friends._

_A shield to repel all._

**_Is this the power you choose?_ **

Pale, gloved hands clutched the shield more tightly. This was something that could help protect his friends, to help protect everything that matters to him. Though he was more familiar with the sword, he’d rather relearn something completely new if it meant that he could keep them safe.

“Yes.” He spoke, voice resolute and filled with determination. It was clear that he was very confident that this was the power he wanted.

_Your path is set. Now what will you give up in exchange?_

Teal eyes looked at the two remaining items. He really had to sacrifice one or the other? His gaze stopped at the sword. The sword was a very familiar sight to him, a weapon he used quite often in everyday sparring matches with his best friend. The boy smirked a bit smugly. Sparring matches he usually won.

He walked over to the sword, footsteps echoing loudly in the silent area. He reached for the sword and pulled it off the pillar. He held the hilt in one hand and the rested the flat of the blade in the other. The weight was familiar and reassuring to him, giving the silver haired teen a rush of power as he gazed at it. He has won so many fights against all his friends with a wooden sword. Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, and Sora. He usually won against all of them with a sword.

_The power of the warrior._

_Invincible Courage._

_A sword of terrible destruction._

**_You give up this power?_ **

He looked at the sword. He couldn’t imagine losing something like this, something that has been so ingrained into his being. The power he had when he wielded it was something he did not want to lose. He put the sword back on the pedestal and shook his head. He wouldn’t give it up, not the sword.

The boy turned around and now looked at the staff. He walked over to the item and took it into his hands. It was much lighter than the sword and shield, the teen being able to twirl the weapon in his hand. Well he wouldn’t really call it a weapon. What was he supposed to do with this? Bonk people over the head with this?

_The power of the mystic._

_Inner Strength._

_A staff of wonder and ruin._

**_You give up this power?_ **

The teen messed with the staff in his hands, thinking over the words the voice said. He had only ever wanted to protect and fight his friends. Was the power of the mystic, something he was completely unfamiliar with even more so than the shield, really going to help with that goal? Plus magic wasn’t really real was it? So the staff was pretty much useless to him.

“Yes.” The boy stated and the staff disappeared in a small flicker of light. He gasped as the ground below him shook and the glass under him shattered causing the teen to fall deeper into the darkness.

It wasn’t very long when another light shone and another glass painting was visible. This one was different than the one he was originally on. It had a woman with blonde hair and a beautiful blue ball gown that the teenager only ever saw in fairytales. This glass painting’s warmth and light caught him gently just like the last one and cradled him until his feet finally touched the ground.

The pale teenager looked at his hand when the shield he had chosen just moments prior appeared in a small flash of light into his hands.

_You’ve gained the power to fight._

He looked it over in awe and did a few practice swings with it. It was hefty and he was sure he could do damage with either swings or slams with it.

_Alright! You’ve got it._

_Use this power to protect yourself and others._

**_There will be times you have to fight._ **

The teen blinked before jumping back as small, black, bug-like creatures started to sprout out from the glass painting. What the heck were those things?

**_Keep your light burning strong._ **

A growl escaped the human’s lips as one of the bug shaped creatures lunged at him. He sidestepped it and slammed his shield down on the creature before knocking it away from him, the creature disappearing in a puff smoke. He didn’t have time to ponder it as another one came lunging at him. This time he blocked the attack with shield and then slammed the bug shaped creature into the ground. For the final bug he took the initiative, rushing forward and swung his shield heavily at it.

“What were those things?” The pale teen spoke into the void, panting a bit from the fight and not receiving an answer back. “Why did they just… disappear into smoke like that?”

_The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes._

The voice didn’t answer boy’s actual question, causing teal eyes to squint up at nothing. He would at least like some sort of explanation as to what is going on right now. He blinked as he felt something tug at his pants and looked down at a dark pool lapping at his legs, gripping onto him and dragging him down into its abyss. He growled, just wanting a small break, before trying to pull himself out of it as it dragged more and more of him in. He started to panic a bit as he was finally chest deep into the void, struggling more frantically to get out. Right when his face was about to be overcome by the darkness, he saw a small flash of light.

He frantically moved once the darkness had overtaken him completely. He blinked open his teal eyes again and just stared up in shock as he saw light. The silver haired boy jumped to his feet and looked around. He was on another glass painting, one without a person this time strangely.

Finally teal eyes stopped at a door in the center of the room. It was of a dull pink color, looking to be made of wood with elegant designs carved and painted over in it. The boy arched a silver brow as he looked behind the door seeing that nothing was behind it.

He was getting tired of all this weird stuff so he just stepped to the front of the door and opened it. It can’t possibly get any weirder anyways.

A hiss escaped his lips as he covered his eyes again from a blinding light flooding out of the door as he entered. Can his eyes stay intact please?

He lowered his arm once the light dimmed enough for it not to be so irritating to his eyes. He looked around with shock painted on his face seeing that he was back on the islands. He was up on the wooden part with Selphie, Tidus and Wakka around him. He sighed in relief, thinking the craziness was over, before the voice spoke up again and causing him to glare up in frustration.

_Hold on._

_The door won’t open just yet._

_First tell me about yourself._

“I don’t talk to strangers. Much less a disembodied voice.” The teen snapped because he seriously was just done with all this. He sighed in defeat when the voice didn’t answer him because of course it wouldn’t. He had no option but to walk over to Selphie. Before he could say another word, she spoke instead. It was as if her question was an automatic thing to say when he got close enough.

“What is most important to you?” Selphie asked.

The teen blinked at the question and thought over what was truly important to him. Most people would think it was being number one since he loved winning and was sort of a bragger. If he was honest with himself, it was an important thing to him but it wasn’t the most important. He always thought back to that conversation so many years ago about protecting what mattered and having the strength for it. He remembered it every time Sora or Kairi got hurt or when he saw them laughing and happy. He wanted to keep his friends safe. Because they were the most important thing to him.

“Friendship.” He answered honestly and plainly. At least this wasn’t really Selphie so she wouldn’t tease him about it. Oh thank god that isn’t the real Tidus over there or he would never let the silver haired teen forget that he said friendship was what mattered most to him.

“Is friendship such a big deal?” Selphie asked.

The teen spluttered before glaring a bit at Selphie, “Yeah it is. You are the one who preaches about relationships all the time!”

And then the teen remembered this wasn’t the real Selphie so he just sighed and walked on over to Tidus. Just like Selphie, his question was said as soon as eldest approached.

“What are you so afraid off?” The blonde asked.

Teal eyes closed as he thought it over. He wasn’t afraid of anything if he was honest. Why should he though? He was strong, smart, and he’s could beat all his friends in a fight.

“I’m not afraid of anything.” The teen stated cockily with a smirk on his pale face.

“You are afraid of something.” Tidus stated, blue eyes looking straight into teal orbs, as if he could see into the elder’s very soul.

“I guess…” The teen thought it over. “I’m afraid of getting old.”

“Getting old? Is that really so scary?”

The pale teen huffed and crossed his arms. Well it was to him. When you get old you become less active, weaker, unable to do some things anymore. Getting old was just another step towards death and the teen really didn’t want to think about that.

Finally, he turned and walked towards Wakka who asked, “What do you want out of life?”

The teen hummed in thought as he thought those words over. There was two things he truly wanted out of his life: To be strong and to explore all the worlds out there. He wanted to be strong for both himself and his friends and he always wanted to get off this island that he has deemed a prison. He was already strong for both himself and his friends so…

“I want to see more. Go exploring and see the worlds.” The silver haired teen answered. “To see all the rare sights I guess.”

“To see rare sights huh?” Wakka repeated. The teen scoffed, were they all just parrots or something?

_You want to see rare sights._

_You are afraid of getting old._

_You want friendship._

“Yeah, I just told you all of that.” The teen shouted up to the clear blue sky. Bunch of parrots-

_Your adventure begins at dawn._

_As long as the sun is shining, your journey should be a pleasant one._

“Yeah, sounds good.” The teen said absentmindedly. Does this stuff really matter at all?

_The day you open the door is both far off and very near._

“What?” Teal eyes closed immediately from a light flashing. He soon found himself on another stained glass again and rolled his eyes. He looked over to see stained glass stairs leading up to what must be another stained glass painting.

After tapping the glass gently with the tip of his foot to make sure it was stable, he rushed up the stairs to the top of the stained glass. This stained glass had a woman with a beautiful yellow dress and brown hair carefully done. He was looking up now waiting for the voice to speak again.

_The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes._

The teen looked back at his elongated shadow. Well yeah, that’s how the world filled with lights and shadows worked. He did jump back in both surprise and fear when his shadow moved up from the floor much like the little bug things had.

_But don’t be afraid._

The boy stepped back as the shadow suddenly grew in size and suddenly yellow eyes blinked open from it. Its chest had a gaping heart shaped hole in it and its shadowy tendrils on top of its head resembled hair.

_And don’t forget…_

He glared up at the beast as he kept stepping back in fear, the shield coming in a flash of light to his hand.  The voice didn’t speak again as the teen began to move. He gasped in shock as the thing’s hand began to glow. The teen ran off to the non-glowing one as the shadow monster slammed his fist into the ground. As soon as it was stuck in the glass, he rushed off quickly towards it and smacked it as fast and as hard as he could with the shield.

Some of the small shadow things came back up from the darkness that spilled into pools from the bigger monster’s hand. He growled a bit before turning to swing his shield at them and tried to get rid of them as fast as he could. He moved and went back to smacking at the hand in repeated succession before the monster pulled it away finally.

The silver haired teen moved quickly to jump and swat at it while the monster moved around slowly. He gasped as the monster got onto its knees and the hole in its chest and stomach began to glow. He hopped back wondering what was happening when three glowing orbs suddenly launched at him. Teal eyes widened as he brought his shield up and batted the orbs away like they were baseballs. He smirked when he saw them hit the monster and kept whacking at each orb that kept coming at him. He could do this!

After a while of hitting the orbs back and wailing at the monster, it finally began to fall over, smoke rising up from it as it disappeared. The teen fell back upon realizing the monster was about to fall right on top of him.

_\------ But don’t be afraid._

Hard to do right now with darkness suddenly crawling up him and a giant shadow monster was about to fall over and crush him to death!

_You hold the mightiest weapon of all._

The teen wasn’t listening to much as he tried to crawl away and out of the darkness.

_So don’t forget:_

_You are the one who will open the door._

“Riku?”

“Riku! Wake up!”

Voices familiar reached Riku’s ears as the darkness crawled completely over him. Those voices…

“Sora? Kairi?” Riku whispered to himself. Light shown behind his closed eyes after a moment and he began to open them.


	2. Waking Up

Riku blinked open his eyes, hissing in pain as the harsh sun greeted them with its piercing rays. He moved his arm to block the sunlight for a moment before adjusting to the bright light. This was why he never fell asleep on the beach, the sunlight was a very rude reminder that he was being stupid for thinking this was a good idea.

“Finally!” A familiar female voice said. Riku was about to ask what before being whacked at the top of his head. He flinched before lowering his arm and tilting his head to have his teal eyes to glare at the two people now leaning over him. “It took forever to wake you up!”

One of the two leaning over them was a girl, the one who spoke before. She had short red hair that reminded Riku of the bleeding red that appeared when the sun rose and set. Her blue eyes were filled with a bright light and she was smiling a bit mischievously at Riku. The other was a tanner boy with messy chocolate locks of hair that seemed to defy gravity. His blue eyes were deep like the ocean and held a light that shined even the darkest depths. He looked to be containing his laughter as Riku glared up at them.

“What are you two laughing at?” Riku asked as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. How long was he asleep for? He hoped it wasn’t long because Riku got sun burned once and he never wanted to be sun burned again. Stupid pale skin being easy to burn.

“I’ve never seen you sleep so heavily before.” Sora snorted. He smirked a little, “What happened to no sleeping on the job?”

“It just happened.” Riku shrugged as he looked down at his hand. Was it all just some really weird dream? But could feel the weight of the shield in his hand the inky feeling of the darkness as it slid like sludge all over his body. What even was that place and why would he dream it up in the first place?

“Hey are you okay?” Kairi asked a bit in concern. She did agree with Sora it was unusual for Riku to be sleeping so heavily like he did, especially since the raft was nearly complete.

“Yeah I’m fine. It was just a strange dream.” Riku shook his head before looking at his friends. He just scoffed at them, “And why am I being made fun of for sleeping. You two are the lazy ones.”

Kairi giggled a bit and scratched the back of her head like she was caught with her hand stuck in the cookie jar, “So you noticed.” She soon looked excited and smiled brightly, “Then let’s finish it together! I’ll race you!”

“Huh?” Sora looked a bit dumbfounded at that as he had just plopped down to sit on the warm beach sand. “But I just sat down.”

“Ready?”

Riku and Sora looked at each other when she said that word, a silent spark of competitiveness and pride being shared between them. Even though they were both sitting down and rather not get up from their spots, they would not back down from a challenge against each other. Riku mainly because he was prideful and didn’t want to be called a chicken for not doing it and Sora because he just wanted to beat Riku for once and prove that he can be Riku’s equal.

“Go!” Kairi shouted and immediately the two boys hopped to their feet and ran off, the sand being kicked up behind them.

Riku just looked back with a smile at Sora, yeah, he was going to win this with ease. Riku was faster than Sora and his longer legs helped carry him farther.

And he did. Riku smirked a bit victoriously as he reached the door that led to the other side of the island. He breathed a bit heavily because Sora gave him a challenge this time. Of course, Sora was still no match for him. Sora stopped by him and was panting heavily, bending over and resting his hands on his knees. The momentary glory and satisfaction of winning faded a bit at seeing Sora so winded.

“Hey you okay? That race didn’t tire you out that much, did it?” Riku joked a bit lightly, hiding his concern behind the teasing tone in his voice.

“O-of course not.” Sora panted, not looking up for a minute until he finally could stop panting. He looked up at Riku finally though he was still breathing so heavily. Riku was so fast, the brunette had to give it his all to catch up.

“You two are so fast.” Kairi whined as she finally caught up. She huffed a bit and crossed her arms.

“Hey, no need to get huffy. Not everyone can be as fast as me.” Riku smirked at Kairi.

“Watch the ego Riku. We don’t want it to sink the island now do we?” Kairi rolled her eyes but smiled brightly at that.

“Wow Kairi, where did you buy that comeback? Tidus?” Riku snorted a bit.

“Ha ha.” Kairi mocked before giggling.

“Like yours are so original.” Sora smiled at Riku.

“Better than yours.” Kairi joked.

“Yeah, you are pretty horrible at them Sora.” Riku laughed before fist bumping Kairi.

“They aren’t that bad.” Sora muttered, eyes lingering at the fist pump before looking down at the sand.

“Oh right! So, Sora did you get everything on your list?” Kairi asked.

“Uh…” Sora shifted a bit.

“Oh come on Sora. Kairi and I are done already. And I fell asleep.” Riku shook his head a bit in disappointment. “Don’t you want to get off these islands?”

“Well yeah-“ Sora shrugged a bit. He mainly wanted to go since Riku and Kairi were going. He didn’t want to lose both his best friends because they wanted to go on some super awesome adventure. He didn’t want to be left behind.

“Then start taking this seriously.” Riku sighed a bit. Maybe Sora was struggling a bit. If that was the case, “Do you need any help with it? I can help get the stuff you are missing.”

“I can do it.” Sora shook his head and had a determined look on his face. “I had just as much stuff to get as you Riku, I can handle it.”

“Alright.”

“Just come give me everything once you are done alright?” Kairi stated.

“Yeah I know!” Sora nodded with a smile before rushing off to get everything they needed.

“That Sora.” Riku shook his head a bit. “He needs to stop being so lazy.”

“Oh right, mister napper.” Kairi giggled.

“I saw you nap before Kairi, don’t act like you didn’t do that too.”

Kairi gasped, “How did you know that?”

Riku smirked a bit victoriously, “I didn’t, but I do now.”

“No fair Riku.” Kairi huffed before lightly punching Riku.

“Life isn’t fair Kairi. Now wait here to actually do some work with Sora.” Riku snorted before walking off. He could practice a bit on his sword swings anyways. He especially wanted to after having that dream that felt so real. The silver haired teen shuddered. He really did feel like he could die at any moment.

After a few practice swings and practicing some moves, Riku sat up on the Paopu tree and looked over at the glimmering ocean. He had considered fighting Selphie, Tidus or Wakka but he had won so many times against them that it wasn’t even a good exercise anymore. They were skilled a bit for kids but they never tried anything new or learned how to get better despite Riku, a bit arrogantly and not as teaching like as he wished, that they needed to learn or they’d never beat him. He even beat all three of them at once! And he bragged about that for a week or two. Maybe three.

The silver haired teen looked down at his gloved hands and thought back to that dream. It was like slipping through his fingers, fragment still in his hand but still falling through unable to catch in time and remember what he had been holding compared to the entire beach. He remembered fighting shadowy creatures and making choices but the details were fuzzy, like puffy clouds with no distinct shape. He looked up once hearing footsteps get closer to him.

“Hey Sora.” Riku greeted as Sora approached. The brunette smiled at Riku. Sora had a few marks that suspiciously looked like he had been hit by Selphie’s jump rope. Well, Sora had gone to do practice matches with the others.

“Hey Riku! Wanna do a sparring match?” Sora asked. Riku blinked, Sora looked pretty confident with himself.

“Yeah why not?” Riku sighed as he jumped off the tree and grabbed his wooden sword that was leaning against the tree.

And that’s how a sparring match between the two started. Riku knew his and Sora’s fighting styles pretty well. Riku was faster for sure, but Sora could take more hits than the silver haired teen could. The two’s sword clashed a bit as Sora blocked Riku’s fast blows. Sora caught a few good blows on Riku’s body but was never fast enough to get out of the way in the time of Riku’s kicks when the silver haired teen jumped back up from being knocked down. The deciding blow finally happened when Riku jumped over Sora and hit him in the back. Sora gasped when he fell to the ground and Riku pressed the wooden blade to Sora’s neck.

“I win.” Riku smiled smugly as he removed the blade.

“Again.” Sora sighed as he sat up.

“What does that make the score? 56 to 12?”

“Yeah.” Sora muttered.

“At this rate Sora, Kairi will have a better win percentage against me than you.” Riku laughed a bit at that.

“No way!” Sora gasped and shook his head. “I’ll be the first to be on equal ground with you Riku!”

“Well not at the pace you are going.” Riku scoffed. “You get lazy with doing the stuff for the raft and you still seemed so shocked at my jump kicks. Kairi’s learned to dodge those.”

“I can dodge them.” Sora huffed.

“Really? My shoes marks on your shirt say otherwise.” Riku pointed at the shoe mark right on the middle of Sora’s shirt. “You gotta shape up Sora.”

Sora narrowed his eyes at Riku a bit, “Fine. I still have things to get anyways.”

Sora moved past Riku and grabbed a log nearby. He just turned and began to walk away from Riku in a bit of a huff. Riku watched for a moment, did he say something wrong? Sora seemed upset with him. Since when was Sora upset with him? Well… It felt like Sora got more and more upset with Riku lately, especially when he brought up Kairi.

Riku sighed. He had to be imagining it. He was sure Sora was fine with him because what possible reason could Sora have to be upset with Riku? Riku was like his hero right?


	3. The Door

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long to get out! School is coming to a close soon and everyone, including myself, is preparing to graduate. So I hope the chapter was worth the wait and that you all enjoy it~

Soon enough, the sun began to set after a long day of preparing the raft. After Sora had gotten all the supplies, Riku had worked on getting the last of the logs added to the raft, Kairi finished up stitching the sail and Sora organized the supplies. Now the group was sitting on the Paopu tree looking over the sunset that helped set the blue ocean ablaze into an orange reflection.

“So Kairi’s home is out there right?” Sora asked as he laid down on the tree and stretched his tired arms.

“Yeah, and we’ll be looking for it once we get off the island.” Riku smirked as he punched Kairi lightly, “Better start thanking me for it Kairi.”

“I’ll thank you in your dreams.” Kairi laughed before punching Riku back.

“Uh yeah, but how far can a raft take us?” Sora asked, interjecting on the conversation.

“Not sure. But we’ll think of something else to get off of these islands.” Riku shook his head before looking over at Sora with a smirk. “Getting cold feet Sora?”

“Of course not!” Sora huffed and crossed his arms with a pout.

“Sheesh, I was just kidding.”

Sora just deflated a bit while Kairi spoke up again, “Say we get to another world, what will you do then?”

“Don’t know. Didn’t really think about it.” Riku shook his head. He walked over to the edge of the small island and looked over into the water at his reflection. “I just… Always wanted to get off these islands. They always felt so small and each corner of this place was explored already by us. Each day is the same as the last with nothing new really happening.” He looked back at his friends before focusing at Kairi, “Plus I want to help you find your family.”

“Aww. So sweet.” Kairi giggled a bit, covering her mouth with her hand with a small blush.

“You really want to get off these islands huh Riku?” Sora asked with a soft tone. Did Riku really want to leave their home so much?

“Yeah. I’ve always wanted to leave here for a while now.” Riku answered as he walked back over. He hopped onto the tree as he looked back at the orange ocean.

Sora nodded at those words before looking over the ocean himself. His best friend really didn’t want to be here anymore did he? Sora moved his blue eyes to be looking at Riku as the wind blew gently on silver hair. The two of them have known each other since they were just babies. The brunette had always noticed Riku complaining about how there was nothing exciting going on and seeing the longing look in teal eyes when Riku would sometimes stop and stare off into the ocean in thought. But Sora… He never knew that the desire to leave had run so deep in Riku, he thought it was a passing dream until the raft was brought up and they actually started to build one. No the brunette saw firsthand how deeply that passion and drive to leave burned in Riku. How had he never noticed before that determined glint in Riku’s eyes that showed how much his silver haired friend wanted to leave these sandy beaches?

“If it wasn’t for you Kairi I never would have thought it was possible to get to the other worlds on our own. So thank you.” Riku turned and smiled a bit at Kairi. Sora looked away at that and looked down at the ground. Did Kairi really help Riku so much while he did nothing for the friend that has helped him and protected him for years now?

Kairi just giggled, “You’re welcome.”

After a while the trio was ready to head back and head home. Kairi and Riku had gone off ahead while Sora stayed behind and looked up at the Paopu fruit growing on the tree. Destinies intertwined, right?

“Sora hurry up or you’ll get left behind!” Riku shouted as he started walking back towards Sora.

“Coming!” Sora answered back before turning and running towards his friend.

The next day, the sun was shining as bright as it always did. The weather was warm and nice and Riku came pretty much lathered in sunscreen because his mom saw the beginning of a sun burn on his arms and didn’t want him to get burned again since the last incident. Riku shivered just remembering it while Sora would always laugh at the memory of a small little Riku crying and sobbing from his entire body being sun burned. He had been so red. Never again.

Riku was now waiting on the other side of the island for Sora to show up. If the silver haired teen had to give a guess, he’d say Sora was oversleeping again. Or maybe he got sick. Riku looked down a bit at that, Sora was not doing all that well yesterday.

The silver haired teen nodded, turning to head back to the dock to get his boat to check on his childhood friend before sighing in relief at seeing Sora walk through the door seemingly okay.

“What took you so long? I was starting to get worried.” Riku joked as he nudged Sora a bit, “Overslept again?”

Sora laughed lightly as he pushed Riku’s arm away, “Yeah a little.”

“More like a lot. You need to stop going to bed so late.” Riku scoffed a bit as he ruffled Sora’s hair. “Anyways, I wanted to talk to you. Our raft still needs a name. I was thinking Highwind, what about you?”

“Hm…. Well I like Excalibur!” Sora smiled brightly.

“How about…”

“The usual?” Sora smirked a bit which Riku mirrored immediately.

“Are you guys at it again?” Kairi sighed before walking on over. “You know what to do.”

Sora and Riku got into their places. Riku smirked as he stretched. Oh he so had this in the bag.

“If I win, then I get to be captain and if you win…” Sora thought for a moment in thought.

Riku smirked even more, oh this was a perfect time to tease his best friend. Plus it might motivate Sora to try harder against Riku.

“I get to share a Paopu with Kairi.” Riku finished as he placed his hands on the ground and got into a racing position.

“W-what?” Sora asked completely flabbergasted at Riku’s win condition. Since when did Riku want to share a Paopu with anyone?!

“Deal? Winner gets to share a Paopu with Kairi.” Riku hummed. Yeah this would push Sora to try his best here. His brunette had to be crushing on Kairi. Or at least Riku thought he was. But hey, he was usually right so he assumed he was right about this too.

“Wha- wait a minute!” Sora gasped at that. That seriously wasn’t a condition, was it?!

“Go!” Kairi cheered and Riku dashed off. Sora shook himself out of his shock before scrambling after Riku.

The silver haired teen laughed, thinking the look on Sora’s face was absolutely priceless. He jumped over the rickety part of the bridge to get safely onto the next part, turning to smile at Sora before it faded into a frown of worry. Sora wasn’t paying attention to the bad part of the boards and he stepped on them with a hard force ready to jump. The board broke under his weight and Riku moved quickly back as Sora’s eyes widened in shock. Before the brunette could fall into the water below, Riku grabbed his wrist. With a huff, the silver haired teen pulled his best friend up and over onto the safe part of the bridge.

“Watch your step.” Riku laughed once he got Sora over before running off to continue the race, he still wanted to win after all. Sora blinked where he sat before leaping to his feet and following after Riku.

Riku climbed up the wooden tower while Sora, not getting there in time, moved around to take the long away. The teal eyed teen went down the zipline before hopping off on the other side and then jumping onto the tops of the palm trees towards the star. He touched it before running off to make his way back to Kairi. Sora followed closely after but Riku was holding the lead as he made his way towards the finish line.

“Looks like I win again.” Riku smirked as he made it there. Sora sighed as he made his way over to his two friends. Riku punched Sora lightly and chuckled, “Lighten up man it’s just a name. Plus that thing with the Paopu fruit? It was just a joke. You should have seen your face!”

Sora looked up at Riku with a frown before sighing, “I didn’t find it funny.”

Riku blinked when Sora walked past him towards Kairi to get the list of things the brunette needed to get before going off to get them. The silver haired teen sighed as he turned to Kairi who just shrugged.

“You need to ease up on teasing him Riku.” Kairi scolded.

Sora grumbled as he gathered the ingredients on the list. He soon made his way to the secret cave that they all go to now and again to add a random drawing or just hang out when it was too hot to be running around on the beach. He figured a mushroom would be somewhere in a cave. He thinks anyways, Sora didn’t really study up on where mushrooms commonly grew.

He crawled in through the entrance before walking once he could stand. His footsteps echoed off the floor and against the walls as he made his way silently to the more open part of the cave. He looked around, touching the drawings on the wall gently with his hand as he walked. He picked up a mushroom once spotting it before looking at the strange looking door.

Sora froze however upon hearing something move behind him, making him turn quickly and stare at a man in a long brown robe. The robe concealed any and all features the figure had no matter how hard Sora squinted to see what the person looked like.

“Who are you?” Sora asked.

“I have come to see the door to this world.” The figure spoke, voice deep and not showing any emotion.

“What are you talking about?” Sora blinked in shock, clearly confused by the other’s words. What door? The wooden one?

“This world has yet to be connected.” The figure kept going, “Not yet reaching out and connecting to other worlds.”

“Other worlds?” Sora whispered softly. The other worlds can be connected? So if they aren’t does that mean that they won’t be able to get to any of them if theirs wasn’t connected to everything else. “If it’s not connected… does that mean we won’t be able to go to other worlds?”

“Hmm…” The man hummed. Sora shivered, feeling the man’s gaze on him but never truly feeling it. “A heart yearning for the one they admire to respect them. To help the ones they care for get what they so desire. To gain the attention back from the friend that you feel has drifted from you.”

Sora tensed up and his clutched at his pants a bit. How did he? How can this total stranger know all that? How could he just look through Sora and into the depths of his heart and pinpoint exactly what Sora so desired. No way, that couldn’t be possible.

“If you truly want your friends to see other worlds there is only one way to do it.” The robed man spoke again, grabbing Sora’s attention immediately away from the brunette’s own thoughts.

“What is it?” Sora asked cautiously.

“The only way is to connect the worlds and opening the door.” The man spoke as he pointed his sleeve to the door.

“Open… the door?” Sora asked as he looked at the door.

“Yes. Open the door young man and soon the way to other worlds will be open to you and your friends.”

Sora stared at the wooden door for a moment. He thought about how Kairi and, especially, Riku wanted to get off these islands and see the other worlds. To find Kairi’s home. To get off what Riku saw as a prison. So slowly, as if he rushed this he would spook the door or something, raised his hand towards the door.


	4. End of the Islands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh! I know I haven't responded to the comments but I really do adore them immensely and so happy to see you all enjoying this story! I do appreciate you all taking the time to read this! 
> 
> Anyways, this chapter is the one that shows the first big change of Riku being the protagonist in my story and I hope it peaks your guys' interest~

“So what are you making?” Riku asked as he looked over Kairi’s shoulder.

His red headed friend was currently weaving some sort of strap with seashells at the end being placed to look like the shape of a star. He has been watching her work on it while they waited for Sora to return with his share of the supplies. He had to admit, Kairi was good at crafting. She was always making cool things out of things you wouldn’t think you could make beautiful things from.

“This is a necklace made from Thalassa shells. Sailors used to wear to ensure a safe voyage.” Kairi explained as he showed her nearly completed charm, “It’s a charm to help us find each other if we were separated! We’ll always be together!”

“That’s so sappy.” Riku snorted and yelped when he got thumped on the head by Kairi.

“Its sweet thank you! You better appreciate the sentiment Riku!” Kairi huffed before chuckling.

“Yeah I will.” Riku snorted as he rubbed the top of his head where Kairi thumped him. Kairi was stronger than she appeared-

“Good.” Kairi smiled triumphantly as she went back to working on the charm.

“I got the supplies.” Sora stated as he walked over with all the supplies he had left to get in his arm.

“Great! I guess we can call it a day huh Riku?” Kairi asked the silver haired teen.

“Yeah. That’s everything we need.” Riku smiled a bit happily at this. He would allow himself to have a bit of that giddy, dorky smile Sora got sometimes, “Tomorrow’s the day.”

“Yeah…” Sora nodded a bit as he looked away towards the other side of the island.

“Aw come on Sora! You got to be more excited than,” Kairi cleared her throat before doing a bad Sora impression. “Yeah.”

“What was that?” Riku snorted.

“It was me imitating Sora!”

“More like imitating a dying fish.”

“Fish don’t even make sounds like that!”

“It sounded like them flopping around on shore to me.”

Sora shifted a bit. He really hoped what he did truly would help his friends achieve what they wanted. He looked at them as they continued to playfully bicker back and forth which just resulted in Riku picking Kairi up as if she was paper over his shoulder. The red head laughed and began to lightly punch Riku’s back in protest as she ordered him to let her go. Sora just looked down, pondering when and how Riku and Kairi grew so close.

“Come on. It’s time we head back for the day.” Riku laughed as he began to walk, Kairi still protesting and laughing from his shoulder. Sora watched them go before rushing to follow.

Later during the evening, Riku was on his bed after a well-cooked meal with his parents. He had his legs cross, one bumping up and down in excitement. He had no idea how he could fall asleep with tomorrow being the day he finally achieves what he always wished. He’ll finally leave this island prison behind and explore each and every world to his heart’s content. That’s all he ever wanted for as long as he could remember. To do that stuff with Sora and eventually Kairi as well.

He was interrupted by his train of thought from the loud rumble of thunder shaking Riku to his core. He got off his bed and rushed to his window. He pushed it open and stared in wide eyes shock and the dark storm raging outside. He gawked, the raft was near the water, no way was it going to survive that!

“Riku!” A familiar voice spoke and Riku turned to see Kairi rushing over to his house. She looked just as panicked as Riku felt as the red head ran over as fast as she could. “The raft!”

“Well no duh!” Riku rolled his eyes as he jumped out of the window. He grabbed Kairi’s hand and rushed off toward the beach where their little boats would be at.

He stopped at the pier and blinked. Why was only two of them there? Did one of them get loose from its rope and get washed away during the storm. The silver haired teen shook his head and just got into his, helping Kairi settle in as well. There was no time to think about that. They had to go save the raft!

It took some effort on both Riku and Kairi’s side to get there safely, but the duo were finally able to make it to the pier at the other island.

“Riku look!” Kairi pointed to the other boat.

Riku looked at it in shock, if this was here…

“Sora!” Riku gasped as he grabbed Kairi’s hand and began to run off to find their missing friend again.

He had to skid to a halt when some shadowy bug things started to pull up from the ground. Those things… They were from his dream! Why were they here?

“What are those things?” Kairi asked as Riku grabbed the wooden sword by the dock.

The silver haired teen swung the blade down on one of the shadowy creatures but it seemed to phase right through them, as if he was just hitting air. That didn’t make sense though! They were obviously there!

“Ah!” Kairi screamed when one jumped towards her.

Riku rushed over and raised an arm to block the attack and winced in pain when they thing very obviously made contact. What so they could beat him up but he couldn’t? Riku is calling bull on that.

“We got to run!” Kairi shouted as she grabbed Riku’s free hand and rushed off and away from the shadows.

Riku looked up towards the small little island cut off from everything else and saw familiar brown locks moving against the wind.

“Sora!” Riku shouted as he took the lead with the running. He brought Kairi into the small shack before racing up the stairs with her. He was breathing heavily as the exited. He let go of Kairi and did a full-on sprint towards Sora.

“I didn’t want this…” Sora mumbled to himself as he looked up at the dark orb in the sky. His blue eyes filled with regret and guilt.

“Sora!” Riku shouted as he finally reached the brunette.

Sora turned around sharply, looking ready to cry as he stared at Riku. The silver haired teen stopped just a few feet away from Sora in confusion. What was wrong? He didn’t think Sora was afraid of storms anymore.

“Riku… I’m so sorry.” Sora whispered. He couldn’t even meet Riku’s eyes. “I just… I just wanted to do what would make you and Kairi happy.”

“Sora what are you talking about?” Riku asked. He wasn’t understanding why Sora looked so remorseful like that.

“I had to make sure we can really go to other worlds. So that you and Kairi can finally go on the adventure you guys wanted.” Sora answered.

“We were already doing that Sora. We had the raft. We could have gone and seen it all.” Riku answered.

“We couldn’t have. Not until the door was open.” Sora objected, shaking his head side to side quickly in sadness. He held out a hand to Riku, it trembling slightly in fear. “Riku…”

“Sora?” Riku asked in complete worry.

Soon a pool of darkness opened up at Sora’s feet. Slimy black tendrils starting to poke out of the abyss. Smaller ones wrapping around Sora’s ankles while the longer ones reached to grab every each inch of Sora to bring him out into the darkness forever. Riku panicked at the sight and reached out to help Sora, everything else fading away at that moment. The storm, the raft, the adventure, everything. All that mattered was Sora. All that mattered was grabbing that hand and letting him know everything was fine once his friend was pulled free.

However, it was futile no matter how much Riku struggled or how Riku so desperately wanted to grab Sora’s hand. The darkness soon grabbed at the silver haired teen as well, trying to also bring him into the darkness with Sora. Soon the tendrils covered his eyes and all he could see was darkness.

_Keyblade…. Keyblade…_

Riku gasped, taking in gulps of air as a bright light drove away the darkness. He felt a new weight in his hands and looked down at a golden handle. He followed along the silver blade and blinked. Well… It was a blade shaped liked a key.

“Riku!” Kairi finally caught up to Riku, putting her hands on her knees and panting. She looked around, still trying to catch her breath. “Where is Sora?”

Riku blinked as he looked to the spot Sora once was. His eyes widened in fear as he rushed to that spot. The key shaped blade disappearing from his hands as he got to his hands and knees and began to dig up the sand where Sora once stood. Where was he? Where was Sora?

“Riku!” Kairi shouted again, causing Riku to pause in his digging and look around at the shadowy bugs beginning to pop up.

Riku jumped to his feet, moving his hands into a battle position on instinct. He was about to mock himself for doing that with no weapon in his hand when the key shaped blade reappeared in his hand in a flash of purple light, akin to darkness but bright. Riku stared at it before shaking his head. No time for wondering why he suddenly having this weapon in his hand. This thing better be effective against these monsters or Riku was going to chuck it as far as he could into the ocean.

He rushed forward, not even thinking as he slashed at the monsters. He did take note that the blade was effective on the monsters as he smacked some away or into the ground. He dodged and blocked as he made his way through each Shadow and finally took them out. He was panting a bit and looked at the key shaped blade. What even was this?

“What even is that?” Kairi asked curiously as she looked over the blade, as if reading Riku’s thoughts by asking that question.

“Heck if I know. It just showed up in my hand.” Riku answered as he gave the blade a few swipes.

Before either of them could say anything more, the island shook around them with such intensity that it caused both the teens to fall onto their butts from losing their balance. Riku dug his fingers into the sand when he felt a sudden upward force and the land began to shake again.

“The island is tearing apart!” Kairi shouted as he noticed the small part of land they were on was starting to go upwards.

“Well isn’t today great.” Riku drawled as he sat up and looked around. He gasped when suddenly darkness began to converge in front of them. He stared in complete shock as the large beast from his dream stood before him.

“And what is that?!” Kairi asked in shock.

“Trouble. Kairi! Get to cover! I’ll take care of this!” Riku stated as he got to his feet and got his Keyblade ready.

“A-alright.” Kairi nodded as she scrambled off to hide some place.

“At least I have an actual sword this time.” Riku muttered, loving the familiar stance and similar weight spread in his hand. He rushed forward and began to repeat the process with the last fight with this guy. Hit his hands, watch out for raining orbs, block ones targeted at him and clear any enemies that emerged from the inky pool the giant created. He repeated process over and over, letting instinct take over his actions as he chipped away at the monster.

Once it finally was defeated, it started to rise into the sky to the dark orb above. Riku sighed in relief before gasping at feeling himself get lighter. He quickly turned and grabbed onto the Paopu tree for dear life.

“Riku!” Kairi shouted.

The silver haired teen turned to see Kairi holding onto a palm tree tightly as if it was the only thing keeping her alive. He could see her red hair being pulled back by the pull from the dark orb above them. Riku doubted neither of them could hold on long enough for this all to just end. Even if it did, they would most likely die from the crash back down to earth.

Riku gasped when Kairi’s grip finally slipped and the red head let out a scream as she was pulled towards the dark orb.

“Kairi!” Riku pushed himself off the tree with great force to catch up to Kairi without even thinking as the pull took them.

Thanks to the force of the push, he was finally able to catch up to her and pull her into his arms. The red head buried her face into Riku’s chest as the two were lost into the dark orb. And everything went black.


	5. Traverse Town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to update! It was the end of the year for school and I had focused all my efforts on making sure I could graduate. And then I had no way to write something until 11 pm last night for myself and started working on this chapter immediately. I hope you all enjoy it!

Riku had no real idea what had happened. All he remembered was the wild rush of everything that had happened prior to him falling unconscious. First everything had been going well, the raft was finally finished and they were ready to set off on their grand journey to explore all the different worlds and what they had to offer. The silver haired boy had been incredibly excited, heart beating like a drum and unable to even get a wink of sleep from how his dream to finally leave the island prison was coming true. But suddenly the storm happened. It was like it was commanding the waves to crash upon his life long wish and drag it to the deepest trench in the ocean. Riku had rushed to the other island with Kairi in tow. The strange black creatures made of a deep darkness from his dream was there. He had no idea what it had even meant, just making him confused. He and Kairi had ran off to get away from the bug like creatures but when Riku had looked up and saw spiky brown locks, he had ran ahead once he was sure Kairi had been in a safe location. 

Once he had reached his childhood friend, he was even wrapped up in more confusion. Sora had started to babel on about how he didn't want this. How he was so sorry and how he just wanted Riku and Kairi to be happy, for them to live that dream of adventure. Even though Riku did not understand what Sora meant or why he seemed so regretful of what was goin on, like he had been the one to cause this chaos. Though the silver haired boy wanted answers that weren't looping back to "I'm sorry", that didn't matter upon seeing Sora so distressed and fearful. Riku had promised so long ago to protect Sora, someone he held near and dear to his heart. Part of that promise was to ensure Sora was okay, physically, emotionally, and mentally. So upon seeing his friend like that, everything had faded from his mind. Nothing else mattered but making sure his best friend was okay. It was just so instinctful that it was like breathing. 

But then the darkness came. It started to surround both boys as they reached for each other desperately. However, no matter how hard they tried, they boys couldn't as the darkness finally wrapped around them. When Riku had opened his eyes upon a brilliant flash of light, Sora had been gone, leaving Riku to stare at where his best friend once was as Kairi caught up to him. The teal eyed boy and the red haired girl did not have time to ponder as they had been attacked once again by the creatures made of the inky, black darkness. Riku, now with the key shaped blade in his hand, fought off the bug like creatures and the giant with a heart shaped hole in the middle of his body. 

Riku thought he finally had a chance to rest before the dark orb in the sky started to suck everything into it like some kind of black hole. Upon seeing Kairi lose her hold, and not wanting to lose sight of another best friend, Riku let go of the tree he was holding onto to catch up to Kairi and put her into his arms. Though he had no idea what would happen, at least they could be together. 

That was Riku's last thought at least before he blacked out.

Now, teetering on the edge of consciousness, Riku laid on a stone path. The silver haired teen slumped against the wall a bit uncomfortably while Kairi had her head rested on his shoulder. It was a bit cold until something warm and wet dragged across his face. He groaned as he blinked open his eyes. He stared at the yellow dog for a moment.

"I'm dreaming. I have to be dreaming." Riku groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He gasped as the dog hit his chest before glaring daggers at it. This mangy mutt!

"Riku?" Kairi shifted and mumbled.

Riku turned to her. That dog can wait for now, Kairi took priority. But the mutt was definitly on his list.

"Kairi. I'm here." Riku nodded as he placed a hand on Kairi's shoulder and shook her gently. "Come on. Get up."

"Five more minutes." Kairi mumbled.

"Why are you and Sora so lazy?" Riku sighed before shaking his head. He seriously did not have time to go through the seven stages of waking Kairi up so he just resorted to threats. "Kairi, if you do not wake up, I will give you a wet willy."

Kairi opened her eyes just a smidge to glare at Riku, "You wouldn't dare."

Riku smirked like an imp, "Oh we both know I would."

"I'm up. I'm up." Kairi groaned as she stood up and stretched. Riku followed her lead and stretched, sighing in relief at feeling those satisfying cracks. He looked at Kairi who was looking wide eyed around them, eyes started to show some layer of understanding as she remembered the things that had happened prior.

"Thats why I woke you up." Riku sighed as he looked around. Yeah, they certainly on the island anymore. He had no wonder where they could possibly be.

"Do you know where we are?" Kairi asked as she looked over to the yellow dog.

"Kairi... Its a dog. Its not going to know anything, much less tell us." Riku snorted.

Suddenly the yellow dog raised its ear and ran off. Kairi gasped and reached out to it but it was already gone. The strawberry haired girl huffed, crossing her arms as she pouted and glared at Riku. The silver haired boy in question just rolled his eyes. It wasn't like it was his fault for the dog running off like that. Plus, why did Kairi always blame him for everything?

"Come on. We should look for Sora." Riku stated as he led the way out of the alley.

Kairi huffed, still a bit upset for Riku scaring the dog away as she followed. She and Riku looked around the strange town. Woah. They really were in another world. The excitement of finally exploring other worlds was swiftly crushed under the fact of how they even got here in the first place. They didn't even understand what had happened, but they did know that their island had been infested with monsters and was being torn apart as it was being dragged into the giant ball of darkness that was nestled in the storm. What had happened to their friends and family? Tidus? Wakka? Selphie? Mother? Father? What happened to them? Not to mention Sora had disappeared before Riku's eyes. What had happened to him? Where had the darkness that latched onto the cheerful brunnete drag him too? For now they could only hope that the boy was around the corner, a bright smile ready to warm their hearts.

Kairi trembled a bit before blinking at something warm wrapping around her hand. She looked down to see Riku's gloved hand holding onto hers firmly but gently, "Riku?"

"Don't say a word about this. Its to make sure you don't go running off somewhere. I don't want to waste my time looking around for two children." Riku huffed. 

Kairi smiled. She knew the real reason why but she guessed Riku didn't like admitting he was trying to comfort her. Made sense since Riku had always been kind of bad at it when it came down to the words part of it. So she just nodded and squeezed Riku's hand as he dragged her off to ask others around if they had seen any sign of Sora.

The two had gone person to person asking if they had seen a single spiky lock or a boy with yellow shoes. Riku tried to go into as much detail as he could about what Sora looked like but each person they asked gave the same head shake or a sorry. They even had gone to something called an item shop to ask and there had been three giant, walking, talking ducks.

Riku and Kairi had rethought a lot of things when they exited. What else do other worlds have if they had ducks that wore hats but no pants?

The duo eventually walked into an accessory shop hoping they could finally find something on Sora there. Kairi and Riku looked around the shop for any sign of their friend. Riku sighed upon seeing nothing and turned his gaze to the shopkeeper. He had blonde hair sticking up a bit thanks to the goggles on his head. 

"Hi how can I-" The shopkeeper turned around to greet them before snorting, "Oh. Nothing but a couple of kids."

"We're not kids." Riku huffed as he glared a bit at the blonde man. Kairi sighed and shook her head. They kind of were. What was Riku's problem with authority? Oh right. Liked to be in charge.

"Alright. Simmer down now." The blonde man shook his head. He looked the two over a bit curiously, "Why the long faces? You two lost or somethin'?"

Before Riku could say anything, Kairi spoke up, "Yeah kind of. Where are we?"

Riku huffed a bit. He could have asked that.

The blonde man arched a brow before explaining about where the were and the places around the area. Kairi, in turn, had taken care of explaining where she and Riku came from and what it was like.

"Traverse Town..." Kairi whispered softly. Yeah... She never heard about this town on the islands.

"So, gramps, is this really another world?" Riku asked in a rude tone, looking a bit bored at the man's explanations.

"Riku!" Kairi huffed as she thumped the back of RIku's head. She put her hands on her hips upon hearing a satisfying ow and seeing Riku rub the back of his head. She turned to the shopkeeper and looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry sir. He's usually more well behaved."

"Why are you treating me like a dog?" Riku asked, sending a slight glare at Kairi.

"Because you act like you have no manners." Kairi crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at Riku.

The shopkeeper laughed a bit, "No problem. Brats run in here all the time." Ignoring Riku's indignant hey, the shopkeeper continued. "No need to call me gramps or sir. The name's Cid."

"Do you know anything Cid?" Kairi asked hopefully.

Cid sighed, "No not really. This place sure ain't your island and I haven't seen any sign of that porcupine boy you talked about."

Riku sighed upon hearing that. Great. Another person who ended up not seeing Sora. Was his best friend even here? The thought caused Riku's heart to sink a bit. What if Sora was on some hostile world all alone? What if he got hurt? What if Riku could have been there to protect him? Great. Some protector he was supposed to be.

"Earth to Riku." Kairi snapped her fingers in front of Riku's face.

"Huh?" Riku blinked and looked at Kairi.

"Shouldn't we get back to looking for Sora?" Kairi asked.

"Oh. Right." Riku nodded as he started for the door.

"Thank you Cid." Kairi smiled.

"Not like I really helped." Cid shook his head. "Best of luck to you two. Ever run into trouble come back to me. I'll look after you."

Kairi smiled more, "Really thank you."

"Even you, Mr. Awkward." Cid laughed.

"Thanks." Riku nodded a bit. He knew when to say thank you. It was good to know they had a place to go to if they ended up stuck on this world.

Riku and Kairi then exited the shop to resume their search for Sora. They walked up some stairs and kept an eye out for their friend as they walked. Riku opened some large door to another section and walked with Kairi further into it. A man across from them. The two teens thought nothing of it until the man fell to the ground and suddenly he began to glow, his heart rising up to the dark night sky. But soon it was wrapped around with a blanket of darkness. Kairi and Riku watched in horror as the heart soon became some kind of creature before their very eyes. It was different from the bug like ones. It had some silver helmet and looked huminoid. Before Riku could even do anything, the creature disappeared in small dark portal, as if it was never there in the first place. When the duo walked forward to look for Sora and keep an eye out for the strange creature, the familiar dark bugs started to rise from the ground around them.

"They are here too?" Kairi groaned.

"Like some infestation." Riku growled as he got into a battle stance, the key shaped blade appearing in his hand immediatly.

Riku swiftly started to take care of the creatures. He swung his Keyblade at every possible ooprutunity and made sure to dodge the inky black claws. He blocked one strike before parrying with his own and then twirling to smack the one that jumped up to hit him from the air. Luckily Kairi was able to evade any attacks made towards her and even led some right into Riku's Keyblade for a swift demise.

"Are they everywhere?" Kairi panted after the creatures have been taken care of.

"I don't know." Riku sighed as he looked at the Keyblade. "But as long as we have this, we should be fine."

Kairi nodded a bit as she caught her breath. Once the two had rested a bit, they walked off to the hotel nearby to see if Sora had potentially ended up there. They entered the hotel, not notcing the two individuals that had entered the area.

They asked the hotel clerk if he had seen Sora but got yet another no. Riku and Kairi looked at each other with a sigh before walking to the end of the hall and exited from the door there. They walked up towards some tall white building. Riku growled in frustration when some more of the black creatures showed up. He took the two out before dragging Kairi inside what seemed like some sort of gizmo area, missing the two individuals that had exited the hotel.

Riku growled when even more bug creatures popped up. Can they get a break or was Riku supposed to suffer? He swatted through the creatrues, grumbling all the while about how ridiuclous this was. Did they have no one to take care of these things or something? Regardless, they two exited to see a wobbly ladder. Riku sighed before looking over the edge of the small indent between building they were in. He jumped down before turning around and opening his arms out. Kairi nodded, understanding what Riku was conveying silently, She jumped down, having complete trust in her friend, and was caught bridal style in his arms. Riku set her down gently, taking a hold of her hand again as he started to walk off towards another door which led to who knows where.

"Is this house..." Riku blinked at the two dogs.

"Aww." Kairi kneeled down by two dalmations and petted them both gently. They had that same sad expressions that were similar to Kairi and Riku's, as if they had lost something near and dear to their heart like the two young teenagers. Two humans had come over and talked about how many of the two dogs puppies had become lost upon arriving in this world, most likely scattered to other worlds.

"Kairi I know that face." Riku sighed. That was the face Kairi got when she was about to drag Riku and Sora into something that would involve an entire week of time to be a part of.

"Come on Riku! We got to help!" Kairi pouted.

"We have ither things to deal with. Like, oh I don't know, finding Sora!" Riku huffed and crossed his arms.

"We can look for both him and the puppies!" Kairi argued. "Plus Sora likes them! He might be playing with some! Or we could find him with them!"

Riku pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew when Kairi had her mind set on something he couldn't dissuade her, "Fine. We'll look for puppies."

"Yes!" Kairi smiled triumphantly. 

Soon the two exited with Riku grumbling. Ninety-nine puppies. They had to find all of  them. Hundred if you count Sora as a puppy. Not exactly the adventure he wanted to go on. 

The area they had entered seemed to be by the sewers and Riku made sure to avoid the gross water as he took care of the bug creatures that popped up as the two walked. Riku grumbled even more. His arm will eventually get sore if some bug creature kept popping up with each step he took. Riku growled when the door they went to ended up being the Second District again. Were they going in circles? The very throught caused Riku's blood to tingle in annoyance. He just wanted to find Sora and make sure he and Kairi would be safe. He was going to strangle the next person in frustration if he can't find Sora soon or if they keep looping in circles.

When more bug creatures appeared, Riku took a deep breathe before just lunging forward and massacaring them. At least they were stress relievers for themselves.

"We really need to work on you anger issues." Kairi pointed out as Riku finally finished beating a bug creature up.

"I think my reaction is perfectly acceptable in this situation." Riku huffed.

"Anyways, maybe we should go back to Cid." Kairi shook her head. "Its been a really long day and maybe we should get rest that was caused by a dark ball in the sky."

Riku sighed, "But Sora..."

Kairi placed a hand gently on Riku's arm, "We'll find him. I'm sure he's fine Riku. Come on. We both are tired."

"Fine. But only because you are tired." Riku huffed.

"Yeah, sure." Kairi chuckled as she grabbed Riku's hand and began to drag him back to Cid's shop.

When they got to the front of the shop, a new voice popped up, "They'll come at you out of nowhere."

Riku turned to look at a tall brunnete with long brown hair wearing a black crop top, short sleeved jacket and a white shirt, "Who are you?" And no duh Captain Obvious.

"And they'll keep coming at you as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade." The man continued as he pointed to Riku with a gloved hand, specifically at the blade in Riku's hand.

"So?" Riku raised an eyebrow as he got between the stranger and Kairi.

"But why? Why would it choose a kid like you?" The man asked himself mostly.

"What's that mean lion boy?" Riku growled, mainly reffering to the lion necklace around the man's neck.

"Never mind." The man shook his head as he walked over. "Now lets see that Keyblade."

"No way! You are not getting your hands on this!" Riku got into a battle stance. He needed this to protect Kairi from the bug like creatures. No way was anyone getting their hands on this!

"All right. Then have it your way." The man scoffed as he brought out a blade... gun? Gun blade? What was Riku supposed to make of that?

Riku quickly shoved Kairi to the side before rolling out of the way from the man's jumping attack. Riku barely dodged more swings from the man's large sword. He managed to block one with his blade and parry. Riku gasped upon a fire ball was launched from Leon's hand and nearly hit Riku. What?! This dude can use magic? Riku growled as he lunged forward to deliver a few smacks at the man with his Keyblade. However he was met with heavy slaps of the man's gunblade in return. When Riku saw the man kneel to the ground, the silver haired teen was panting heavily. That fight felt so fast but also that it had felt like forever.

"Now-" Riku panted as his vision began to swim. He might have taken too many strikes from the man's gunblade.

"Riku!" Kairi shouted upon seeing Riku fall backwards. She rushed forward and kneeled down beside him. The last thing he saw was Kairi as her muffled sound of his name left her lips.

-

Sora twitched where he lay on the ground. Everything felt way too cold as he blinked open his eyes. He stared in shock upon seeing a waterfall before forcing himself to push himself up. He swayed a bit from a rush of dizziness, holding onto his head waiting for it to ebb away. Once it was gone, he took a better look at his surroundings. He gasped as he noticed the strange circling of water to leaving a small area  to remain dry.

"Riku! Kairi!" Sora shouted worriedly, hoping that his friends were somewhere nearby. When he got no reponse, he just bowed his head. Great. First he caused that storm at the island and now he was all alone, not knowing what state his friends were in. The entire thought of his friends being hurt caused his blood to turn to ice. What if... What if they were seriously hurt and it was all his fault?

Sora didn't notice the malevolent prescence watching him.


End file.
